Dressup to Dress Down
by Ron Dow75
Summary: A Tale of the Naban Mirror. Happosai wants to change Ranma's attitude by going back in time to the first time Ranma wore girls' clothes.


Tales of the Naban Mirror  
By Ron Dow75  
  
Dress-up to Dress Down   
Another public bathhouse was being destroyed:   
  
Happosai in his bathing suit cackled, "Ha, HA! You used my   
oasis's soap, Ranma!"  
  
The redhead in nothing but her Juusenkyo suit cried,   
"Oasis!?!!" Whatever he called that stuff she lathered   
with, it was making her see multiple images; even her other   
trained senses were confused. "You mean drunkard's soap!"  
  
Happosai didn't like that, "If I had MEANT "drunkard's   
soap", I would've SAID that!" That's it, Ranma thought,   
keep talking. "But where would the sport be in that!? You   
sleep like a log sober, anyway!"  
  
The naked girl-Ranma attacked where she thought the Old   
Fart was. She only ended up destroying more tiles. But   
lucky for Ranma, there was a hot water pipe underneath   
them.  
  
Unluckily for guy-Ranma the women took the sudden   
appearance of yet another man on their side the wrong way.   
They screamed and threw whatever they could find. It was   
one thing for a dirty, old but covered man to be intruding,   
it was another for a perverted, naked young man!  
  
(Nabiki, in a one piece, suggested to an old lady who   
didn't have much strength that she use her towel as a   
slingshot and a bottle of shampoo as ammunition.)  
  
Akane, also in a bathing suit, yelled, "Ranma, jump over   
the wall to the men's side!!"  
  
The naked young man answered with, "Why don'tcha give out   
my LAST name, too!" But the tomboy was right: He could use   
the wall that didn't reach the ceiling as a fort, attacking   
Happosai from behind it.  
  
But the effects of the soap made it nearly impossible to   
judge where the dividing wall began and ended. The wall   
seemed to extend up past the ceiling.  
  
Ranma misjudged, hit the ceiling too soon and broke through   
the tiled wall coming down. (And splashing into hot pool on   
the men's side.) Hearing the great crashing noise, the men   
on the other side had to look at, then though the gaping   
hole that. The women screamed, and ran for their locker   
room.  
  
When guy-Ranma jumped up onto gap of what remained of the   
dividing wall, Happosai wept, "Now look what you did,   
Ranma! You're mean! You chased all of the girls away!"  
  
"Me!!?"   
  
Happosai threw a pail of cold water on Ranma and attacked,   
"At least I have you!!"  
  
Then, just as the little gnome was about to glomp onto the   
flesh of the buxom pigtailed girl, Akane directed the spray   
of hot water from the broken pipe onto Ranma.   
  
Overwhelmed by the essence of male, Happosai turned blue,   
and slid off Ranma. That male body promptly stomped the   
insect.  
  
///  
  
Like Ranma, most of the men in the bath had decided now was   
a good time to leave. The authorities might not believe how   
the bath got demolished. So Ranma had an audience when he   
carried into the men's locker room the two wooden pails   
tied together that Ranma had Happosai trapped in. Ever   
since Juusenkyo, Ranma was uncomfortable when guys stare at   
him, especially when he didn't even have a towel on. "I   
oughta drown you in the women's bath! No, you'd LIKE that.   
I'll drown you in the men's!!"  
  
Ranma opened his locker, and started getting dressed.   
Glaring down at the pails he had under his foot, he yelled,   
"You have nothing to say, now?" Nothing. And when he looked   
at what he was holding, he saw it was holding a lacy, satin   
bra with water-filled balloons in the cups.   
  
Happosai appeared from behind the low row of lockers with a   
blow gun.  
  
Pop! Pop! Ranma was a girl again.   
  
The Old Pervert laughed, "Ha, HA! It worked like a charm! I   
can see all of your charms!"  
  
Ranma cried, "Why YOU!!"   
  
The Old Freak leaped down, grabbing the bra. Ranma held on   
tight, "I'm NOT lettin' go so you can put a bra on---"  
  
The elastic stretched, and just when Ranma was afraid the   
Evil Master would let go and let it snap her soft, exposed   
body, Happosai yanked, and pulled Ranma off of her feet. In   
a wink, the little gnome leaped into Ranma's locker and   
brought out a pair of lacy, satin panties. With Ranma's   
leg's still up in the air, Happosai had a clear shot at   
slipping the unmentionable down onto the pigtailed girl.   
  
Ranma closed her legs: With Happosai's neck between her   
ankles. "Ghaakh!"  
  
///  
  
The pigtailed boy made sure he knew where the sicko was   
this time as he walked home with the two Tendou sisters. He   
was dangling him from a noose he had made with a couple of   
towels.   
  
Though Nabiki thought the story was amusing, she couldn't   
understand, "Why don't you just LET the old goat see you   
wear lingerie? He's already seen you naked. The more you   
make a big deal of it the bigger deal it becomes for the   
old pervert to see in them."   
  
Akane cried, "Nabiki!"  
  
Ranma told the bobhaired girl, "I ain't wearin' girls'   
underwear! I'm a guy! A guy can't wear girls' stuff and   
stay a guy!!"  
  
Nabiki didn't buy it, "Oh? Girl gymnastics tights, girl   
skater's costume, the girl magician's costume, waitress   
uniform, the one-piece SWIMSUIT..."  
  
Ranma told her, "They weren't MY choice! And I ain't yet   
worn a skirt! And I NEVER wore nothing but my OWN boxers!"   
  
Nabiki said, "No? What about my purple negligee and   
panties?"  
  
"I had that Cat's-Tongue! You PUT me in them while I was   
passed out! You're ALWAYS tryin' to play dress-up with me!"  
  
Nabiki challenged him, "Name a time besides that."  
  
Ranma had the answer, "The very first time I ever had on   
ANY non-guy clothes was because of YOU!"   
  
Nabiki said coolly, "And when was that?"  
  
"That Saturday before Ryouga showed up! You BLACKMILED me   
into puttin' on one of Akane's outfits!"  
  
Akane remembered, "And YOU said I had a flat chest and was   
fat!"  
  
Ranma told her, "I did not! Do you have to get EVERYTHING   
wrong, you stupid tomboy!"  
  
Despite being swung around on the end of a noose as Ranma   
gestured while arguing, Happosai got am evil smile.  
  
///  
  
Later that night in the Tendou living room that was now his   
room, Happosai got out the Naban hand mirror from its   
hiding place. It was a magic mirror he gotten on one of his   
many adventures. He had forgotten how to use the souvenir   
until his reunion with Cologne had reminded him of the days   
of their youth. She had...well, he liked to think she had   
given it to him...As a token from a grateful young maiden   
to her dashing young lover. But now he had to hide it   
because the dried up, old crone wanted to take it back from   
him!  
  
The little man knelt down and thought of the sad thought   
that had moved his heart, something guaranteed to make him   
cry. "Ranma...Ranma! Is that where you went wrong? Your   
taste for the finer things was ruined by a traumatic   
introduction? How tragic, how very tragic. If only I, your   
thoughtful mentor, could have been there to ease your way   
into the satin and taffeta world of female finery. By now   
you would know the joy of living the soft and frilly life!   
But I WASN'T there! It's enough to make a grown master cry   
for his student!..."  
  
More than one tear drop hit the looking glass.  
  
///  
  
There was a blinding light, and when it was gone, it was no   
longer indoor lighting. Happosai judged it was afternoon by   
the sun. And he was outside the familiar walls of the   
Tendou compound.   
  
"Ya, HA! What rapture! If this isn't the day that Ranma   
starts dressing like a lady, it WILL be! And then...." he   
cackled evilly. And he leaped over the wall, behind the   
bushes and across the roof.  
  
Hiding in a tree, he looked through the open garden door   
into the family room, and assessed the situation.  
  
///  
  
The male Ranma only had on his boxer shorts. His only   
concession to any possible indecency was a towel draped   
around His neck. The TV was on, but he wasn't paying much   
attention to it; he was thinking about something. He was   
sitting at one end of the table, while Nabiki was sitting   
down at the other end, folding laundry. It was obviously   
something the middle sister was not used to doing, so she   
let her irritation show when she complained when the   
redhead popped in, "Why do guys have to be such slobs."  
  
The pigtailed girl looked down at her cleavage, "Aw, geez!   
I can't even have a drink of water without turin' into a   
girl." She set the glass down on the table.  
  
Continuing with her chore, Nabiki said, "If you were more   
careful, you'd have something to wear right now. And I   
wouldn't have to do so much laundry."  
  
Wiping the narrow valley between her young hillocks with an   
end of the towel, Ranma said, "Kasumi does the wash."  
  
"And I'm folding," the teen in the halter, oversize   
overshirt and white cutoffs said. "Kasumi has extra laundry   
today as a favor to me, that's why I'm helping out. But the   
question is, why aren't YOU doing something!?!"  
  
"I'm thinking. There's GOT to be a way to stay a guy."  
  
"Well, in the meantime you're a girl. Do you know what it's   
like to have to see you that way? Not to MENTION what it   
does to poor Daddy!?"  
  
Ranma said, "Look at the TV, not at me," but her hand made   
sure the towel was hiding all that it could.  
  
Nabiki picked up Akane's purple blouse, "Here! At least put   
this on!" and tossed it at her.  
  
As soon as it touched her, Ranma scooted on her cute butt   
away from it, "Hey!"  
  
"Oh, come now, Ranma, it won't bite!" And Nabiki tossed her   
pink halter at her. "It's made of a cotton blend!"  
  
The redhead butt-hopped away from that, too "Stop that!"   
  
Nabiki tossed one item of clothing after another at her.  
  
Ranma leaped to her feet. The only thing between her and   
escape through the door to inner hall were folded clothes.   
  
But behind her was the open door to the garden!  
  
Up on her feet, the girl showing her legs challenged her,   
"Go ahead: You like flashing! Perhaps it'll be more than   
the neighbors looking over our walls on their second floors   
who will see you doing it this time."  
  
(Happosai silently pleaded, No, don't come out here! It's   
taking all of my will power to keep from burying my face   
between those sweet melons as it is!)  
  
Ranma feinted in that direction, then leaped. Nabiki lifted   
Akane's pink skirt to trip her up with--Only to step in the   
folded clothes herself!   
  
Nabiki cried, "That DID it, Ranma!" and turned in time to   
see Ranma land on her feet near the door to the inner hall.  
  
There came a sudden breeze, and Nabiki suddenly collapsed.  
  
Ranma cried, "Nabiki!" and reversed her leap to catch her   
before she hit the floor.   
  
Nabiki looked up into her blue eyes, and asked, "Ranma?"  
  
Ranma said, "You suddenly went limp, like a rag doll. Do   
you know what happened?"  
  
Nabiki asked as from a sickbed, "Ranma, will you do me a   
favor?"   
  
"What, Nabiki?"  
  
She thrust the pink skirt at her, "Put this on!"  
  
"No way!!" she cried, letting her fall.  
  
(Happosai cursed to himself. Making Nabiki's nerves   
momentarily relaxed hadn't apparently changed any history!   
If he did anything worse, he was sure to be noticed!)  
  
The chase had begun, with Nabiki yelling, "Come back here,   
Ranma! You can't go around looking like a girl looking like   
that!"  
  
As Ranma ran into the inner hall, she yelled, "I ain't a   
girl! I AIN'T gonna look like one!!" The kitchen was the   
next door in the hall. Once she got the teakettle, and   
LOOKED like himself, THEN Nabiki will know she can't put a   
dress on a guy!  
  
But Kasumi was just coming out of the kitchen to see what   
the disturbance was all about. Ranma almost ran her down.   
"Oh, my!!"  
  
Nabiki was within reach of the pigtailed girl, "I've got   
you, now, Ranma!"   
  
Working her thighs, Ranma sped down the hall. Where to   
next? The door to the dojo? There were fewer neighbors to   
peep. Nabiki anticipated that move, "I'll get you dressed,   
even if I have to FIGHT you! Martial Arts Stage Dresser   
Technique!" Or the Nabiki Bluff Technique.  
  
Ranma veered for the stairs. Nabiki yelled, "Trying to hide   
in 'your' room!? Our GUEST room?! A part of MY house!"  
  
"Leave me alone!" Ranma found that that way, too, was   
blocked. Akane was in the middle of going up the narrow   
stairs.  
  
Nabiki cried gleefully, "Ah, Ha! See!? You were MEANT to   
wear things that go with that body!"  
  
Ranma raced for the outer hall, "Now way! Unh, uh! I ain't   
gonna let nothing touch me that don't belong on a GUY!!"   
  
(Akane paused on the stairs, "Honestly! They're acting like   
they're brother and sister!")  
  
The towel around Ranma's neck had moved away from covering   
her loving cups when she turned the corner. Happosai   
standing in the middle of the outer hall cried, "Hotcha!"   
But Ranma was too busy too see him. The little Freak was   
sent flying out into the garden.  
  
Nabiki was right behind Ranma, "Ranma! Come back here! Come   
back here, I say!"  
  
"Go away!! Unh, uh! Absolutely not!!"  
  
"You can't go running around the house half naked, you   
know!!"   
  
Ranma had turned into the back hall. Where to, now!? Mr.   
Tendou's bedroom? If mention of Ranma's room being the   
guest room had momentarily broken her pace, then the   
thought of going into the dojo master's bedroom was out of   
the question. The bath room? Too many bad things happened   
in there in this house. --The lav!   
  
But the door wouldn't open!   
  
Ranma backed up...and against the end wall. Trapped!  
  
"I'm a guy, okay!?!" Ranma said, inching across the wall,   
looking for an opening past her. "There's no way I'm gonna   
let you dress me up like a girl! So forget it!"  
  
Nabiki briefly let her gloat show. "All your clothes are in   
the wash." And she held up the skirt. "It'll only be for a   
little while, Ranma."  
  
Kasumi, in her usual attire, said from behind her sister,   
"I'm sorry, Ranma! I'll draw you a bath."  
  
Ranma had only made it to the corner, when Nabiki went nose   
to nose with him. "Listen, Ranma, remember: You're a guest   
in our house."  
  
"Uh..., er..." She, the shorter one, looked up into her   
eyes.  
  
Nabiki said with some feeling, "Your hot baths are heating   
us out of house and home. We can't pay the gas bills. You   
see what I'm saying?"  
  
"Uh, yeah...." When had she become a 'naughty child'?  
  
Nabiki smiled, "So you'll wear this, right?"   
  
Ranma-chan hung her head in shamed defeat. "Okay...."  
  
Nabiki triumphed! She held up the skirt in front of him,   
seeing how he'd look in it. "Fetching."  
  
Kasumi turned away from the bathroom door. Her assistance   
was needed out here.  
  
Ranma mumbled, "Does it have to be pink?"   
  
Nabiki reminded her, "I have a whole roomful of dresses."   
  
Kasumi protested, "Oh, Nabiki, I don't think it's right."   
Then she said why, "I know *I* wouldn't feel right knowing   
somebody else had worn my clothes!"  
  
His eyes turning away in a bent frown, Ranma-chan said,   
"Why do you girls always gotta wear dresses, anyway?"   
  
Nabiki said, "Maybe you'd know if you tried them."  
  
Kasumi said sincerely, "Yes, Nabiki, I wish you'd wear   
dresses more often."   
  
Ranma said, "Hey, that's right. She doesn't wear dresses   
much, does she!?" Looking at Nabiki sideways, Ranma crossed   
her arms. "Runs in the family, doesn't it?!" she smirked.  
  
Nabiki said, "Look who's talking!" apparently unphased.   
"Hey," she said to Kasumi. "Let's get Akane in on the fun!"   
she grinned.  
  
As they turned to go to her room, they saw clothes that   
should have been in the family room dancing seductively in   
air. There was Akane's sunflower sundress, one of Kasumi's   
nicest blouse and skirt set, and there was even the last   
dress Nabiki had worn, the one she gone to a party in.   
There were also the black, lacy bra and panties she'd worn   
then.   
  
Nabiki said, "What the--!?"  
  
Kasumi cried, "Oh, my!"  
  
Ranma asked, "How in the world?" When she examined the   
trick, she found they were held up like puppets by,   
"Spider's thread!"  
  
Kasumi said, "But I keep such a clean house!"  
  
Nabiki pulled down the clothes, "I now spiders were the   
original weavers, but I DOUBT they're responsible for these   
clothes."  
  
Ranma narrowed her eyes, "Are you sure YOU didn't have   
something to do with this?"  
  
Nabiki said, "Go ahead and believe that. It's always good   
to have the other guy wondering."  
  
///  
  
All of them were in Akane's room. Nabiki and Kasumi were on   
the carpet, going through the things they'd pulled from her   
closet.  
  
Nabiki had picked up a pink blouse, but she was looking at   
the one Kasumi had selected, "I think not, Kasumi."  
  
"But the frills on this look so sweet."/ Sweet!? Ranma-  
chan thought.  
  
"I don't know. I really think this one is better."/   
Pink!!?  
  
In her long pink jumper and white blouse, Akane was sitting   
on her bed, not enjoying the 'fun' at all, "Hey! You guys:   
Why does Ranma have to borrow MY clothes, anyway?!"   
  
Near her feet, Ranma-chan was sitting boy-style on the   
carpet, still dressed in only the towel and boxers. He had   
his arms crossed, boy-style as well, for he was in full   
stubborn again. "Forget it! I ain't wearin' no skirt. No   
way!"  
  
(Happosai noted they weren't picking out any lingerie. He   
knew Ranma had to get by the first hurdle of wearing   
outerwear before she would consider underwear, but she DID   
need to get the idea that's what girls also wore. That's   
what HE most wanted to see her in, anyway. He had retrieved   
Nabiki's satiny, black set. Happosai preferred his darlings   
to be more sweet and virginal white or pink, but he knew   
that Ranma always had a problem with those. Perhaps Ranma   
would have been more amenable to the idea of having her   
wonderful mammories lovingly held by the smooth, snuggly(so   
SATINY) emblem of womanhood if they had started out in a   
type more blatantly sexual.   
  
(Using all of his ninja skills, he slipped out from under   
the bed and into the closet, where he sneaked the lacy,   
black bra and panties into the pile on the floor.)  
  
Sorting through the things, Nabiki picked them up, "Akane,   
I wouldn't have thought you owned any like these."  
  
"What!? Those aren't mine!"  
  
Kasumi said, "Oh, no, those can't be Akane's! Hers are   
white, or some other pastel color."  
  
Nabiki nodded, "Virginal." She tossed them back in pile.   
Nabiki hadn't worn the pair herself enough to recognize   
them as her own. She said, "Well, Ranma can't wear any like   
this, either." She smiled, "But Ranma CAN wear Akane's."  
  
Ranma told her, "No I can't!"  
  
Akane told her, "No he can't!"  
  
Kasumi told her, "No, Ranma, can't, Nabiki." Then she said   
why, "Ranma's cup size is larger."  
  
(Happosai quietly threw a tantrum inside the closet.)  
  
///  
  
Ignoring Ranma's and Akane's differences, the two older   
sisters continued to select just the right outfit. Akane,   
also feeling ignored, finally had to make her differences   
known, "No, Kasumi. Ranma's a BOY. How would you like it if   
YOUR so-called fiancé were caught in a dress!?" She was   
still sitting on her bed, but was matching Ranma by having   
HER arms crossed, though, girl-style.  
  
"Oh, my!"  
  
Nabiki said, "She's right, Sis. We must think of Akane.   
Here! This is cute."  
  
Kasumi smiled, pleased, "Oh, my, yes. And so in keeping   
with the theme of the rest of Ranma's wardrobe."   
  
///  
  
Ranma couldn't believe she'd let them put her in a pale   
pink jumpsuit. (Pink! Very pink!) And to top it ALL off,   
written in red roman letters, was the cursed word "China"   
(!!!), with a cutesy heart dotting the "I", of course.  
  
Nabiki said, "We, at least, got to pick the color."   
  
Kasumi said, "Boys have no sense of fashion."   
  
Akane said, "Look at that," sounding as if she were lending   
clothes to a girl friend. "It's a perfect fit."  
  
Nabiki leaned down and inspected the "fit". "Well...?"  
  
Ranma wasn't happy. "It's TOO tight," she told them, and   
pulled on the shoulder straps. "It pinches my chest!" she   
demonstrated.  
  
With THAT Akane went from looking to glaring. But Ranma-  
chan was only looking down on the outfit. Nabiki asked,   
"What about the waist?"  
  
"TOO baggy," Ranma demonstrated that too.  
  
Nabiki exclaimed, "Uh-oh...!"   
  
Akane growled, "Oooorrr!!" running for her split bamboo   
sword.  
  
"Aaaaa!!" she roared when she came back with the shinai   
sword. "Aaarr! Die, Ranma!!" she cried as she attacked him.  
  
Nabiki to the rescue again, "Girls! Girls! Let's not   
fight!"  
  
Girl-Ranma yelled, "I told you—-I'm, a, GUY!!!"  
  
Play mind games with Ranma Saotome!! She used her martial   
arts reflexes to shed the girly things.  
  
Akane yelled, "Ranma!! You, you --Exhibitionist!!" renewing   
her efforts, putting more power into her swings--trying to   
hit any of his many exposed parts.  
  
Kasumi said, "Oh, Ranma! Do you really think you should be   
doing that!?" All he had on NOW were the boxers.  
  
Ranma told them all to, "Go play dress-up with somebody   
else!" as she leaped away.  
  
Akane was able to get one good hit on him: Right on the   
that too perfect butt!! Whack!  
  
The redhead cried foul, "Hey!! Off limits! Whoever heard of   
martial arts spanking!?"  
  
Nabiki told him, "That's what you get for acting like a   
brat!"  
  
Happosai used the confusion as the opportunity to call out,   
"What does Nabiki have in HER closet?!"   
  
Ranma cried, "Yeah! Do YOU have anything pink or sappy,   
Nabiki!? Let's see just what you have in YOUR closet!"  
  
"Saotome!!" But it was too late, he'd already used that   
blasted speed of his. "Saotome, come back here!!!" she   
yelled, taking off after him.  
  
Akane yelled, too, "Ranma! Stay out of Nabiki's room!!"   
joining the chase.  
  
Kasumi sighed, "Oh, my...." before turning to pick up   
Akane's things.  
  
///  
  
Ranma was startled by the amount of clothes Nabiki could   
get in her stand-up wardrobe. And she was puzzled that most   
of them had a label on them that said [Ugasi's Tuxedo and   
Mask Shop]. She remembered, now, that the extra laundry   
Kasumi was doing had the same label.  
  
But Ranma didn't have the time to take anything out. It was   
a quick skirmish, and she was forced to retreat out the   
window.  
  
Ranma DID end up wearing girl's clothes. Needing SOMETHING   
to wear in public, she had taken a pair of her slacks and a   
blouse Nabiki had laying about. At least they were pants.   
Now, in the nearby vacant lot, Ranma was tending to her   
wounded male psyche as well as her bruises, "Play dress-up   
with me, will they! I kept tellin' them I was a guy! They   
KNOW I'm a guy!! But as long as I don't LOOK like a guy,   
they think it's alright for me to be a GIRL!  
  
"They don't respect me."  
  
Then she heard a small, hallow voice, "That's right, Ranma.   
They don't respect you."  
  
Ranma looked up from her sulk, and saw nobody. But she   
still heard the voice: "And they WON'T respect you until   
you respect yourself!"  
  
Ranma got up, to find where it was coming from, "I already   
respect myself! If I don't, nobody else is certainly gonna   
do it!"  
  
"You DON'T respect yourself! If you DID, it wouldn't matter   
WHAT'S on the outside! Show them you don't care if you are   
seen in girl's garments! (Especially the lacy, silky   
kind.)"  
  
Ranma walked over to a stack of large concrete pipes,   
"That's stupid! Who respects a crossdresser?"  
  
"You're not a crossdresser if you're a girl! A girl can get   
away with wearing anything, even (gag me) men's clothes!"  
  
Ranma talked just keep the voice talking, "Not anything.   
But I, uh, think I know what you mean. ...You're sayin' if   
I do, I won't have to go around in my underwear while   
Kasumi's doin' the washin'." The voice seemed to be coming   
from one of the bottom ones; she looked. "I can wear their   
old, ugly, guy-like stuff. Once *I* stop carin', they'll   
stop carin', and leave me alone!"  
  
"You have to CARE what you look like!! A girl has to look   
pretty!" Happosai crawled up into the pipe on top while   
Ranma was checking out the bottoms ones.  
  
Ranma looked in the top pipe, "I don't WANT to look   
pretty!"  
  
Happosai had ducked down to the third pipe, "Er, you'll   
look prettier than THEM!"  
  
Inspired, Ranma suddenly straightened up, "Yeah! That WOULD   
show them! They won't wanna dress me up, if I look PRETTIER   
than them!" He got a wicked gleam in his eyes, "They won't   
WANT to see me as nothing but a guy."  
  
///  
  
Mr. Saotome said, "Hmm. Not up to Kasumi's usual   
standards," shoveling the breakfast into his mouth.  
  
Putting hers down, Akane said, "She used salt instead of   
sugar!" And too much of it.  
  
Pushing his away, her father said, "Something must be   
upsetting her again." Kasumi seldom made mistakes like   
that, but she DID make them.   
  
Saotome asked, pointing to this friend's bowl with his   
chopsticks, "Are you going to eat that?"  
  
Nabiki sat with her arms crossed, "At least she has all HER   
clothes." She hadn't even bothered to touch her breakfast.  
  
Her father asked, "Hunh? Is that suppose to mean   
something?" He noticed what his daughters were wearing, but   
forgot how many days they had worn the same things. (They   
did smell different.)  
  
Akane said, "Oh, nothing, Dad! Nothing, really (Ha, ha!)."   
Noticing Mr. Saotome glancing over at her bowl, she shoved   
it towards him. Her dad looked from her to him, as he   
accepted her offering.  
  
"Hmf!" Nabiki snorted. "Ranma didn't sleep in his bed last   
night, did he?"  
  
Saotome said, "No," starting on Akane's meal. "And he still   
hasn't shown up for our morning workout."  
  
Akane swore, "He'd better show up!"   
  
Splash!  
  
Everybody but Mr. Saotome looked to the pond. Ranma had   
jumped in the koi pond--on purpose!  
  
Mr. Tendou said, "There he is. Ready for his workout."   
  
Ranma's pop said, still eating, "He knows I don't like to   
fight on a full stomach."   
  
Nabiki glared at him, "I told you he couldn't go a morning   
without becoming a girl."   
  
Akane scowled at him, "Ooorr!"   
  
Mr. Tendou looked at his daughters. "Er..., perhaps you'd   
like to practice with the lad today," he suggested, stating   
what was becoming obvious.  
  
Ranma was striding slowly, deliberately towards the front   
of the house, around to the dojo. It was a challenge.  
  
Akane said, getting up, "I'll do MORE than just   
'Prac,tice'!"   
  
Nabiki said, "I hope I'm not too rusty," cracking her   
knuckles.  
  
Mr. Tendou watched two of his children hurry out, Akane to   
the garden; Nabiki through the house. "Maybe I should take   
a look in on them. I AM the dojo master, after all."  
  
Bringing Nabiki's bowl over to himself, Saotome said,   
"Leave them be, Tendou. It's been two weeks since Ranma's   
arrival; and you know what they say about house guests and   
fish."  
  
"Yes, they SAY they "both start to go bad after two DAYS"."  
  
Saotome had thick skin, "So you can see how bad things are   
now. This is the make-or-break time in their relationship;   
and they must find their own way of living together."  
  
Tendou nodded, "Yes, Saotome. How wise..." But his praise   
trailed off as he watched the man pour soy sauce on the   
already overly salted food. Then start eating again.  
  
"Water!!! Waterrr!!"  
  
///  
  
Later that day, Soun Tendo said, "I don't remember that   
being there!" looking down at one of the game tiles on the   
shogi table. "You haven't been cheating, have you,   
Saotome?!"  
  
The panda looked up and away, as if it felt insulted.  
  
Soun bowed his head. "I'm sorry, old friend. The strain of   
having to learn to live with you all over again must be   
getting to me." While the man's eyes were closed, the panda   
used the opportunity to move the piece back.  
  
Soun looked up, smiling broadly, "Ahh, remember the good   
old days when we had a common enemy to unite us?"  
  
The panda held up a sign, [Now we have a common MISSION!]  
  
"Yes, so true! UNITED in our common mission! Ah! There's my   
move."  
  
Then they heard Akane yelling: "Just you wait, Ranma!!" and   
the sounds of running coming down the outer hall.  
  
Ranma answered with, "No way!" It was mid-morning, now, and   
the boy was still a girl?  
  
Then, framed by the garden, the two fathers SAW their   
Anything-Goes heir: Dressed in a girl's white-gold-and-  
purple kimono!?!  
  
"Ha; ha!" Ranma-chan giggled, and spun to see how close her   
pursuers were to her. "Leave me alone!!" he said, turning   
back around, and continuing to give them a chase.  
  
Nabiki appeared next, close on the Japanese maiden's tabi   
socked heels, "Stop running!!" She was caring a cape.  
  
Akane then came by, her split bamboo shinai ready, "Hold   
it!!"  
  
Ranma-chan came back. THIS time in a purple bustier, g-  
string, fishnet hose, and pink garter belt!! "(Ha, uh) Cut   
it out!!" the full-chested petit girl simpered, as she   
capered away.  
  
Nabiki cried, "Give it up, Saotome!!" running in a   
captain's hat, and carrying a... Furled Whip!??  
  
Akane was using her bamboo sword as if were a lance.   
"Wait!!"   
  
How did the--that is LAD(!) keep getting by them dressed   
like –-Now like a Showgirl!!! "I told you!!" the one in the   
shocking pink, nearly two-piece costume over lavender   
tights stopped long enough to put her pumps down at the two   
girls still on her tail. "I'm, a, GUY!!"  
  
Ranma ran, not touching the heels to the polished floor,   
backwards, with Nabiki following, collecting the feathers   
chorine was molting, and Akane trying to use the shinai as   
a bat.  
  
Tendo felt weak. But when he leaned on the Japanese chess   
table for support, he slid right off of it, and onto the   
floor: Thun-dum! "Who's crackpot idea was THAT!?"  
  
(Happosai wept onto the Naban mirror, "A "GUY", she said!   
And after she wore that truly lovely, purple lingerie set!   
That's not the way it was supposed to be! I want to go   
home!")  
The End...  
  
[Now you know why the last scene was in the anime but not   
the manga.] 


End file.
